(Photo: Luis Torres | The Podium Finish)
RICHMOND, Va. — The NASCAR Cup Series treks to Richmond Raceway on Sunday for the first short track race of the season. But there are a new set of unknowns.
In February, NASCAR announced that it would alter the racing package at tracks 1.058 miles in length or less and road courses. The adjustments to the car include a two-inch spoiler and the removal of three diffuser strakes and engine panel strakes. It creates a 30% reduction in downforce.
Ryan Blaney, who has finished in the top 11 in the last four Richmond races, is optimistic about the new package.
“I definitely think we’re gonna have a lot to deal with behind the wheel,” Blaney said in a teleconference Wednesday. “Richmond struggled a little bit last year, I thought, so I’m optimistic on going forward to Richmond and then Martinsville, I think, it’s gonna be even better yet. Drivers are gonna have their hands full by themselves trying to keep tires on it with the lack of rear grip, and I’m hopeful that the traffic side is better. I think it’s gonna be.”
Phoenix Raceway, after six cars had tested the changes at the track before the announcement, hosted the first race with the new package in March. Blaney had his best run of the season, finishing second to William Byron.
“I didn’t think it was too much of a change, honestly,” Blaney said of the package at Phoenix. “In traffic, I thought you had your hands full a little bit more by yourself with just the lack of rear downforce, but the traffic side it kind of let me down a little bit. I thought it was gonna be a little bit better.
“Basing it off of Phoenix, I thought our short-track program was pretty decent. We started off the race not great. We could have maybe run seventh to 10th at the start and then by the end I thought we could have run fourth to sixth. I didn’t think we were a winning car at Phoenix. The Hendrick [Motorsports] cars were good.”
(Photo: Dylan Nadwodny | The Podium Finish)
Last week at Circuit of the Americas, the first road course with the new package, Blaney finished 21st after starting 38th.
Blaney said he felt the package was better, but said aggressive racing was a greater factor.
“I thought it was better at COTA than last year,” Blaney said “I thought the trailing guy could be closer. It’s kind of hard on a road course, but you can still feel it.
“Everyone is always on the go button and everyone is wanting to make spots and restarts are the easiest place to make spots, and at those places, you have to be just a bulldog to make anything up … these cars are such tanks that everyone knows they can take it and they take advantage of it.”
Richmond will begin a stretch of three tracks 0.75 miles in length or less. Next week, the Cup Series heads to Bristol Motor Speedway for the dirt race before heading to Martinsville Speedway.
Blaney said Sunday’s race will be important to gauge short-track speed.
“Richmond will be a good gauge of where you stack up – slow, a bunch of mechanical grip, tire conservation, so I’m optimistic for it,” Blaney said. “I thought we had good cars there last year in both races from the whole team, and I’m excited to get there. Hopefully, we learned a little bit from Phoenix that we can apply over to Richmond and keep building on that racetrack. So, I think it’s OK, but you can always improve, and I think we can get a little bit better.”
Sunday’s Toyota Owners 400 is set for 3:30 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
